Name Legacy

Baby names in Iowa, 1930s

1930–1939 · 374,728 recorded births

Robert was the most common name given in Iowa across the 1930s, with 11,980 births in the decade. The state recorded 374,728 births in total over those years.

Most distinctive to Iowa in the 1930s

Names given far more often here than nationally in these years. The multiplier is conservative — it is the low end of the plausible range, so a name carried by a handful of births does not outrank one carried by hundreds.

NameBirthsvs national
Loras2628×
Janaan1318×
Gerrit5311×
Sheryl108
Marlys506
Darlys25
Lavonne631
Merlyn215

Top 25 in the 1930s

RankNameBirths
#1Robert11,980
#2Mary10,810
#3Richard9,375
#4James8,711
#5Donald8,482
#6John7,996
#7Shirley6,118
#8William5,655
#9Betty5,561
#10Patricia4,971
#11Barbara4,804
#12Marilyn4,611
#13Charles4,482
#14Donna4,463
#15Ronald4,210
#16Larry4,194
#17Beverly3,770
#18Kenneth3,446
#19David3,377
#20Dorothy3,318
#21Jerry3,042
#22Joan2,938
#23Carol2,824
#24Joyce2,816
#25Gary2,644

Other decades in Iowa

All Iowa names, 2025

Source: U.S.A. Social Security Administration. State records begin in 1910. Names given to fewer than five babies in a state in a year are withheld at source. namelegacy.org